How do I sort spreadsheet data on multiple columns
It’s very common requirement to manipulate data by importing/exporting CSV content from within external application. And many times the raw data arrangement may not be readily useable or friendly for viewing or analyzing. As such sorting data according to column in spreadsheet is a pretty essential skill, moreover, sorting according to multiple columns are also needed.
This guide showing the step by step instruction for sorting data according to multiple columns using Libre Office, a free Office suite which formally known as Open Office.
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Press Ctrl + A to select all data cell. If you have header row, then hold down Ctrl and click on first row to deselect the header row.
Note down the columns that you wish to sort, in this example, we will sort by ‘Type’ then followed by ‘Address’, i.e. by Column ‘G’, then Column ‘E’.
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Click on the menu for ‘Data’, then ‘Sort…’ to call out the dialog box.
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Use the drop down list to choose the desired columns on the displayed dialog, the first column is ‘G’ and then the second column is ‘E’ in this example.
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Click on ‘OK’ and the spreadsheet data will be sorted according to selected columns.
Tips
Before you start, you may add additional column at the far right for original sequence, if you foresee you will need to sort the data back to the original arrangement while working.
